ikissdhimbck | OOM: Green Lake, Fourth of July

Doc gives her a bit of a look as he narrows his eyes, dropping his voice to just so she can hear.

"If I didn't know any better, Miss Katherine, I would dare suggest you were tryin' to get me to eat more."

A beat.

"Even if I could stand to, perhaps." He chuckles a bit, so she knows he's teasing her.

Somehow, she manages to hold back the burst of laughter that was threatening to break through. A smirk is all that can be seen of it as she leans towards him conspiratorially.

"Am I that transparent?" she jokes quietly, in the same soft tone Doc had used on her. "Don't tell me the sound of peach cobbler doesn't entice you."

She might have gone on a bit more if not for the small boy that came barreling into her legs at that point. Masterfully, she managed not to fall. One might think this has happened before.

"Oh, James, you scared the livin' daylights out of me," she gasps, her hand at the young boy's shoulder, his face buried in her skirts. He was no more than six years of age, at best.

"Mffh hdrrr gfllje frjrms."

She puts her fingertips under the boy's chin and directs his face up toward her own. "Try that one more time."

"Jack won't let me at the maypole."

His voice is tiny, and very, very forlorn.

Doc on instinct is ready to steady her if she were to fall, hand close to her shoulder just in case, but once she doesn't he lightly rests his hands in his pockets, eyes on the young boy who's holding tightly to her skirts.

Especially when he sounds so very sad about his situation.

"Well then perhaps we'll have to go have a talk with young Master Jack about that," he says, as he squats down to get to eye level with the boy and offers him a hand.

"And who might you be, son?"

It doesn't matter than he's not much older than six, if six at all. Doc's always looked at his students (or any children, for that matter) as young gentlemen in training.

There's a tender little smile on Katherine's face as she watches Doc interact with her young student. Some might call it adoration.

James' eyes grow wide when he realizes he has garnered the attention of someone other that Miss Katherine, and he clings to her skirts a little tighter.

"James," comes his timid reply.

"Like a gentleman, James," Katherine reminds him gently.

"James Hartly Cawthright," he tries again, a little louder. "Pleasure t'make yur acquaintance."

He's still hiding in the folds of Katherine's dress, just slightly.

"An honor to meet you, Mister Cawthright," Doc says, with a bit of a nod and an easy smile, before he introduces himself as Mr. Scurlock, and stands up again. He glances at Katherine and smiles.

"This is one of your fine young gentlemen, I assume," he adds.

She smiles back at him.

"Indeed he is."

She dips her chin to her chest so she can peer at the boy again.

"You know there's only so many ribbons go 'round that pole, James."

"He pwomised I could! And Tilly said I could too, a-and Linda, too!" came James' reply, and his voice was getting more frantic with each passing moment.

"All right, all right. Let's see about it, then," she soothes patiently before looking back up at Doc.

"If you would excuse me for a moment, it seems I need to have a talk with my students. I shouldn't be long."

Doc smiles a little, and then nods his head towards the gathered students.

"Right behind you," he offers, and he follows behind her a step as she and young James head over to the crowd of children around the previous mentioned maypole.

It reminds him so much of his boys, and he can't help but smile at the sight and the memory.

She looks over her shoulder at Doc as James leads her along by the hand, and smiles. She's not sure why, but she's glad for the company right now.

"Aw, Miss Katherine, don't let him!"

"James, you tattle!"

It seems like every student has something they feel they have to say, and have to say right now. Eventually, Katherine has to clap her hands to get their attention.

"Boys! Girls!" she scolds. "Mind your manners! Jack, why won't you let your brother participate with the rest of you?"

"He's too little, Miss Katherine!" came the reply from a boy who looked to be in the vicinity of thirteen years of age. "He doesn't know how to do it right!"

"He trips, Miss Katherine," offers Linda, a beautiful little redheaded girl, who looks to be about ten. "And he can't keep up with the rest of us."

"Yes I can!"

"No, you can't!"

"Enough!" Katherine warns, though her voice is still sweet and patient.

"James isn't the only one, Miss Katherine!" another young boy points out, as if that's going to make their reasoning better. "MaryAnne is too slow, too! She's sitting out!"

Off in the grass in a pretty little yellow dress sits another six-year-old, dried tears streaking down her chubby face.

"No, children. That is quite enough of that," Katherine says, her voice serious as she goes and retrieves little MaryAnne. She holds her in her arms, at her hip. "Either you all play or none of you do."

No funeral procession could ever rival the wails emitted from the children at those words.

Doc watches the exchange between the students before he understands the problem, and it's a welcome change. Where she has to deal with children who won't play with each other, he remembers trying to get his boys to stop imitating The Kid in the muddy streets of New York City.

This is definitely a welcome change.

"Now I don't see why we can't all work together so that everyone gets a chance, to play," he offers, before he nods at Katherine. "If perhaps both Miss Katherine and myself helped both of your fellow students, then everyone would get to play?"

A great hush falls upon the small crowd as all the children look up at Doc, obviously trying to work out who he is and where he has come from. The boys look wary, but the girls... well, the girls look something else entirely.

Katherine has to bite her lip to keep from laughing before she turns to Doc and nods, seeing that their minds are working toward the same outcome.

"Why don't MaryAnne and I take... this pink ribbon, here," Katherine says, setting the small girl back down in front of her and threading the pale pink line through her fat little fingers. "And James, what if Doc--I mean, Mr. Scurlock--helped you along with your ribbon, too?"

James ran to a green ribbon--it was obvious he had already picked it out earlier--and gave Doc a timid, little speculative look.

"How does that sound, children? Would you like to see your teacher and her friend make themselves dizzy?"

This warrants laughter from the older girls and boys, and a happy medium is finally found. Katherine mouths a 'Thank You' to Doc as singing and laughter once again works its way back into the group of young ones.

Doc grins at Katherine and nods, as if to say 'No Problem', before he moves to join the boy at the green ribbon he's selected.

He takes a moment to lean down, hand on James' shoulder as he whispers.

"Excellent choice, Master James," he says. "Green is my favorite color, you know."

A smile.

"And we'll show them how to properly go 'bout the maypole, won't we," he adds, almost in a conspiratorial tone, in an effort to boost the boy's confidence.

To watch the smile spread from ear-to-ear on her young student's face as Doc crouches next to him, makes Katherine's heart flutter a bit. She finds it hard to take her eyes off of the man as all the children take their time getting into place. So she doesn't.

She's whispering into MaryAnne's ear, eyes on Doc's profile, when everyone is finally ready to go.

Yeah, she's a little smitten.

"On your mark!" cries one of her boys. She sets her hands on MaryAnne's waist, encouraging her to, above all else, have fun.

"Get set!"

"GO!"

When the other boy shouts the word go, Doc and young James put their Grand Plan into action, with the grown adult sweeping the boy up into his arms and setting off with a laugh that is only somewhat devious in nature.

Just a little.

He cannot even begin to recall the last time he did this.

(And he's very grateful that Billy, or Dave, or hell any of the other boys, are not here to witness him skipping around a maypole while surrounded by a group of young and excited children.)

While his focus is on keeping hold of the child in his arms (he'll set him down once the pole is wound a bit closer with the ribbons) his eyes do glance occasional at Katherine, the smile on her face absolutely beaming.

It makes his heart beat a little harder in his chest without even realizing it.

All the children are laughing and singing and calling to each other with happy little voices. It's a wonderful symphony of sounds. But nothing rivals the sound of Doc and young James' laughter as they set off.

Katherine laughs to match it, feeling an odd skip in her heart to match the one at her heels, and it's the laughter of the young girl in her arms that keeps her giggling with childlike mirth.

The children are singing as they weave around each other, painting the maypole in a glorious quilt of color, and each time she rotates around Doc and James, her smile grows uncontrollable, and the blush rises in her face.

When the ribbon finally comes to the base of the pole, she and Mary Anne run around it in fast, tight little circles, laughing until they're breathless and collapsing onto the grass.

"Perfect!"

Doc calls the word out as James finishes the last turn around the pole, and he swings the boy around once more before he hits the grass in a heap, his hat being knocked off with the contact with the plush surface.

"Very well done, Master James," he commends the boy and then reaches for the dark grey derby on the ground, his cheeks a bit flushed from the excitement. "Very well done. Now," he says, as he sits up a bit on one elbow, chest still heaving slightly as he breathes and tries not to laugh as he brushes a few locks of the young boy's hair back to tidy it.

"I think you deserve something for such a wonderful performance," he continues, before he settles the derby hat on James' head, the sandy colored hair almost disappearing beneath it, and he lowers his voice a bit. "If anybody asks," he says. "You got that hat from Josiah Scurlock, of New York City, because every proper gentleman should have a hat just like that one," he taps the brim lightly and then winks at the child with a grin. "And you, Master James, are quite the gentleman."

Edited 2008-08-15 10:22 (UTC)

Mostly all that can be seen of the young boy's face under that big, gray derby, is a broad, toothy smile. He could lead ships safely to shore with the light that smile cast off.

"My, what a fine hat!" Katherine exclaims, her own grin big and bright. The boy is sitting close enough to where she has collapsed that she can reach out and touch the brim, adjusting it so she can see his sparkling eyes. "Don't you look smart! Just as your father. Would you like to thank Mr. Scurlock for the fine gift?"

"Thank you!" James exclaims, holding the hat to his head as if he were afraid someone might snatch it away. By the way he's looking at Doc, Doc may have just won himself a new best friend.

The other children are scattered about on the grass as well, or leaning on their knees while they catch their breath, giggling. "Hey, no fair!" James' older brother cries from his spot a few feet off.

"You're from New York?" the young redhead, Linda, asks. She's sitting on her heels, skirts spread primly about her. Her eyes are focused on Doc as a quiet blush creeps to her face.

To be honest, Doc has the rapt attention of all the children in the yard. Even young MaryAnne, who is currently having her dark hair played at by Katherine's loving fingertips.

"You're very welcome," Doc replies to James, reaching over to pat him lightly on the back, his eyes moving to the young redheaded girl who's smoothing her skirts as she asks him about New York.

He sits himself up fully and brushes a few bits of grass off a knee as he sits cross-legged, nodding at the girl. "And yes, that's correct. New York City."

A glance around the group as he realizes that most eyes are on him, and he smiles a little.

"Would you like to hear about it?"

It's a question to the entire pack of children, even if he knows the answer already.

And, quite naturally, all the children nod their heads eagerly and gather around Doc.

"How tall is the Statue of Liberty?"

"Are there really enough automobiles for every family?"

"How big are the ships you get in to port?"

"Are there fine hat shops and confectioners stores?"

"What's the 'subway' like?"

Katherine hushes her students, telling them they'll have plenty of time to ask their questions if they'll just let Mr. Scurlock get a word in edgewise. She sits herself upright, legs tucked beneath her, and sets MaryAnne in her lap as they hunker down to listen.

The smile she gives him is resplendent.

"One at a time," he says gently, as he waits for them all to gather around on the grass before he begins.

The Statue of Liberty isn't even built yet, but he's seen the plans in the papers so he thinks for a minute. "She's awful tall," he says. "And you see, the Statue of Liberty sits up on top a pedestal. The statue by itself is 'bout 150 feet, then you gotta add another 100 or so for the base. Very tall."

Then he goes on to talk about the automobiles, about how not every family owns one because there are just so many people and not everyone has the money, about the big steamships that bring people over from England, from across the ocean. He tells them about the shops where you can buy everything you want, be it hats or fine suits, hundreds of flavors of stick candy and licorice.

"And the subway, well, they don't have much of it underground just yet, but they've got trains up above the streets," he holds his hands up. "It's a strange sight, having automobiles and the stage moving along the street, with the trains moving along bridges up above."

A smile. "And the place I live? It's so crowded in the city that we don't have houses like you do here in your Green Lake. I live on the sixth floor of a building in an apartment."

A beat.

"Can any of you guess how many stairs that is?"

Doc has made more new friends.

(Though it should be noted that James, hat still engulfing his head, has little by little scooted himself closer to Doc, to the point he's very nearly in his lap.)

The children are completely taken by him as he regales them with tales of the city, eyes wide like saucers and little mouths hanging ajar in wonderment. They 'ooh' and 'aah' and laugh along as he paints the picture of New York livin', pestering him with dozens of little questions at every opportunity. More than once Katherine has to remind them to mind their manners.

Though to be honest, when he describes the Statue he's never even seen completed, and the subway, and the steamships that roll through the harbor, she finds herself just as rapt and eager to ask questions.

"The sixth floor?"

"Wow!"

"Amazing!"

"That's a lot of stairs!"

"Twenty!"

"No, a hundred!"

"Fifty! Fifty!"

Every child has an answer, and every one is a little different.

Doc laughs at the multiple answers that get thrown at him, and he pauses just one moment to lift James up and settle him in his lap, one arm around his back to hold him steady. It's a natural movement, one that you can only get from being around children for any period of time.

"A hundred and twenty," he says. "Every morning I walk down, a hundred and twenty stairs, and every day after I'm done teaching my students I walk back up a hundred and twenty."

Not to mention carrying anything.

Wooooooooooooooow.

That seems to be the general consensus from the kids. As well as from Katherine.

"What do you think of that, children?" she asks the boys and girls, peering around the group.

All eyes are on Doc. Even little James has his head tipped nearly all the way back, tiny hand holding his new hat in place, so he can look up at the man's face in wonderment.

Katherine grins at Doc. It's a content little expression.

"And I don't even live on the top floor," he adds.

Doc thinks for a moment before he looks around at the students.

"What do you think I should know about Green Lake," he asks. "Can you tell me what you love most about it?"

"The lake!" one young boy cries. "'N goin' swimming!"

"I like Mrs. Teager's farm. She lets me brush her horses," a girl says, giggling.

"I like Miss Katherine's peaches," says another boy.

"And her poetry!"

"An' when she lets us write outside!"

Katherine chuckles, eying her students the way one might if they were worried they were being buttered up for something. "Why don't you tell him about the town, class."

"Oh, I like Mr. Pike's store. 'E always gives me free candy. You should go get some free candy, Mr. Scurlock!"

"You can go down to the shore, an' there's a spot where the peach trees grow in a circle, n' the grass is soft and tall. I like to take naps there."

"Yeah, when you're cuttin' class!"

"I do not!"

The children erupt into laughter.

And Katherine is laughing too.

"I hope that you all come to class tomorrow," Doc says, with a laugh. "Even after such a fine day here at the picnic."

He makes a note of the things that the children mention to him and tucks them away for later, for use in the lessons tomorrow. He's not quite sure how long they continue talking about things -- New York City, again, and Green Lake, and the things that are the same and different in the two -- and there is plenty of time spent laughing.

It's a welcome change.

"So what sort of things," he finally asks. "Happen later this afternoon?"

He expects things like food to be eaten, soon enough, and perhaps a contest or two. Nevermind Miss Katherine's spiced peaches have already taken the best prize.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject